Overdue Record Review: Robert Pollard, We All Got Out of the Army

 Posted by
Jun 022010
 

The continuing task of catching up on the big-ass batch of Robert Pollard-led releases Kpdexter sent me marches on with an early 2010 solo album, We All Got Out of the Army. In my overdue review of Boston Spaceships’ Brown Submarine I lamented that the musicians on that album rarely “dug in” and “created their own shot,” that is, pushed the arrangements to unexpected places. That’s not the case on this solo release, done with producer/frequent partner-in-crime Todd Tobias. Across 17 concise, mostly energetic songs, the arrangements are not afraid to take it to the hoop with the surgical focus of the Cobra Verde-influenced Guided By Voices albums. I dig!

Robert Pollard, “We All Got Out of the Army”

Robert Pollard, “I’ll Take the Cure”

Songs like “Post-Hydrate Update” and the title track don’t pussyfoot around. The strong opening rhythmic gestures and discordant touches work well to support Pollard’s UK psych/prog phrasing. Even songs with a lighter touch, like “I’ll Take the Cure,” have a whiff of the Canterbury scene. This is not to say that Pollard’s finally gone prog, but on this album, with the arrangements clanging around him, he once more fulfills his post-punk, art-rock side, sounding like 154-era Wire if those guys could have removed the 4″ x 4″ from their collective ass.

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COMING THURSDAY: My First Demo

 Posted by
Jun 012010
 

This could be your first demo tape!

The long-awaited Rock Town Hall Talent(less) Search: My First Demo will launch this Thursday, June 3! Townspeople and Friends of the Hall (Martin Newell, Big Dipper’s Gary Waleik, and Ben Vaughn) have contributed a total of 17 demos (and 1 live track) from their young and innocent days of attempting to change the way we listen to music, or at least of attempting to justify their increasingly wandering attention in school and/or at their day job. Now, in as many as 36 years later, perhaps these artists will do just that!

With some suggested criteria, Townspeople will be invited to comment on these early works. It is likely that discussions will take unexpected turns. Prizes will be awarded, long-lost bandmates will be reconnected, we will all feel…something more deeply about the music-making experience. At the appropriate time the artists can choose to provide additional background on the making of their tracks.

A few days of shame, laughter, self-awareness, and (most importantly) healing are in store. If you’re as excited as we are, check back throughout the week. Notify your friends, especially friends in the music industry. Who knows, somebody just may get discovered!

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Well, duh!!!

 Posted by
Jun 012010
 

wWNoKIrH7ms]

I’ve long been a fan of XTC‘s “Leisure,” which originally was only available on the UK import double-album release of English Settlement (talk about your killer double albums…). The part of the song that always sealed the deal for me was the coda. It always sounded familiar, but I always thought that was because it was so right for the song. Until today, when during the course of catching up on some of the cool Hoagy Carmichael recordings I’d missed during my first 46 years on this planet, I listened to the song “Lazy Bones.”

Well, duh!!! Maybe I did hear someone sing this song on a variety show when I was a kid, but it was about time I learned that Andy Partridge was referring to an earlier song when he wrote that coda! Have you ever came way late to the party concerning an artist referencing an earlier song?

By the way, it was also about time I learned that Hoagy himself actually composed and sang “Yabba-Dabba-Dabba-Dabba-Doo” on The Flintstones. He did not, however, do his dialog in Russian.

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Last Man Standing: WTF?

 Posted by
May 312010
 

There have been two recent mentions of the Cream song, SWLABR. BTW, it was a song I hadn’t heard of and had to look up so that I could get with the RTH program. I’m now ISO other of these acronym songs. Mr. Royale and I could think of three: DMSR by Prince, PYT by Michael Jackson, and IGY by Donald Fagen. FWIW, can you think of others? (One entry per post, of course.)

BFN, LMKR

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And This Bird You Can Not Change

 Posted by
May 292010
 

Last night Mr. Royale and I went to see The Flight of the Conchords. Brett and Jemaine had their typical witty banter with the crowd but seemed to get annoyed when someone yelled out “Freebird!” They responded that they did not have that song in New Zealand and that the request may be more appropriate at a Lynyrd Skynyrd show. I was sort of surprised to hear their irritation. A bit of research on FOTC and on the WFMU’s Beware of the Blog suggests that FOTC has choreographed this request into their banter, and that many bands are frustrated with this request.

Sometimes the request for “Freebird” is funny due to it’s juxtaposition with the sort of music that is being played. I’ve heard it screamed for at an Atlas Sound show, and Mr. Royale recalls it being requested from a Stereolab show.

I’m thinking that we are done with the tired and the trite. It’s time to start a revolution and request something different at a show. But what????

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